Adjustable leg



July 19, 1966 w. c. MILLER ADJUSTABLE LEG Filed Aug. 4, 1964 Y lINVENTOR.

WILLIAM c. MILLER United States Patent O 3,261,584 ADJUSTABLE LEGWilliam C. Miller, North Manchester, Ind., assigner to Peabody SeatingCompany, Inc., North Manchester, Ind., a corporation of Indiana FiledAug. 4, 1964, Ser. No. 387,429 4 Claims. (Cl. 24S-188.2)

This invention relates to improvements in articles of furniture ingeneral and more particularly is directed to a new and improvedadjustable support member or leg assembly. In the manufacture offurniture, it is highly desirable to provide a product which isversatile such as being readily adjustable to different elevations inorder to serve a wide range of purposes. Applications and uses ofdifferent articles of furniture vary with the user, and it is highlydesirable to maintain wide exibility in any design. In the interest ofeconomy of manufacture, it is highly desirable to also maintainuniformity in leg constructions notwithstanding their applicability todifferent types of furniture such as tables, desks and the like. Inaddition, by providing adjustability in the article of furniture towhich the leg is applied, a wide latitude in potential use is provided,thereby enhancing the marketability of the entire article.

The prior art in adjustable legs or support members is developed to agreat degree, however, ample room remains in the field for an adjustableleg assembly which is positively acting, easily adjusted and which isconstructed so as to permit adjustment and re-adjustment without fear offailure. The numerous benefits of the present invention will become moreapparent upon a consideration of the objects to be achieved :and theunique construction of the adjustable leg of the present invention tofollow.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved-adjustable leg assembly for use in supporting articles of furnituresuch as tables and the like.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a new and improvedleg assembly which is vertically adjustable over a wide range ofelevations while keeping all the holes covered which are normallyrequired for adjustability.

It is a still further object of this invention to provide a new andimproved leg assembly which adjustably supports articles of furniture atselected elevations and wherein means is provided in the adjustment tocompensate for irregularities in the supporting surface on which thearticle of furniture is placed.

Further and full objects will become readily apparent when reference ismade to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. l is a fragmentary perspective view of an article of furnituresupported by the adjustable leg assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a free body view in elevation of the adjustable leg in thefully collapsed or telescoped position;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal fragmentary cross sectional view of theadjustable leg of the present invention with solid lines illustratingthe leg in the extended position, and dashed lines to show the shortenedposition;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view t-aken along the .lines 4 4 of FIG. 3;and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the telescoping portion of theadjustable leg.

Referring now to FIG. 1, reference character indicates an article offurniture such as a table or the like having a supporting surface 11.Adjustable leg assemblies 12 are provided at the corners of the tablefor supporting the same at any desired elevation. Each of the legassemblies 12 is of identical construction and therefore in the interestof brevity, description will be limited to one of the leg assemblies 12.

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The leg assembly 12 shown in FIGS. 2-4 generally includes a clampingsleeve assembly 13 which telescopically receives an adjustable legmember 14. A floor engaging glide 15 or the equivalent may be providedat the lower extremity of the leg member 14 if desired, depending uponthe particular application of the article of furniture.

The clamping sleeve assembly 13 includes an attaching plate 16 adaptedto be fastened to the Iarticle of furniture to be supported. As is bestseen in FIG. 4, the attaching plate 16 when viewed in plan is generallyV- shaped and is connected bywelding to a generally V- shaped diagonalbrace 17, welded at the apex of the V as at 18, to a hollow tubularmember 19 forming a part of the clamping sleeve assembly 13. The hollowtubular member 19 is received in a suitable `aperture 20 formed in theattaching plate 16 and is joined thereto by welding, brazing or the likeas indicated at 21 in FIG. 3.

The clamping sleeve assembly 13 further includes a clamping bar 22 whichis joined to the tubular member 19 and the attachment plate 16 andextends downwardly within the tubular member 19. The tubular member 19is provided with radially extending openings 23 and 24 which registerwith openings 25 and 26 in the clamping -bar 22. The openings 25 and 26are formed in a thickened portion 27 of the clamping bar 22 and arethreaded to receive the threaded Shanks of co-operating bolt members 28and 29, the former being shown in dashed lines to indicate an alternateposition of the leg 14.

The adjustable leg 14 is of the same cross sectional configuration andis telescopically received in the tubular member 19 with a sliding tit.The wall of the adjustable leg 14 passes between the clamping bar 27 andthe inner surface of the wall of the tubular member 19. A series ofapertures 30 are provided in the wall of the adjustable leg 14 and inperforming the adjustment, the openings 30 are brought into registerwith either of the openings 23 and 24 in the tubular member 19 dependingon the adjustment desired.

As illustrated in solid lines in FIG. 3, the leg is fully extendednecessitating placement of the bolt 29 in the lower holes 24 and 26. Itis important to note that all of the openings 30 in the leg 14 remaincovered in this circumstance. When the leg is fully telescoped, as shownin dashed lines at 14', the lowest of the openings 30 is brought intoregister wit-l1 the threaded opening 25 in the clamping bar 27 and theradially extending opening 23 in the tubular member 19, `and the bolt 29inserted as shown at 28. In elevation the leg assembly appears asillustrated in FIG. 2 with t-he bolt 28 positioned on the inside of theleg closely adjacent the attaching plate 16 where it will be hidden fromView.

In FIG. 5, a fragmentary portion of the leg 14 is shown having amodified form of hole 31 which may be elongated instead of round. Thehole construction shown in FIG. 5 provides additional adjustability andwhen the leg members are tubular the major or long axis of the hole maybe angulated with respect to the central axis as shown in dotted linesto permit adjustment by rotation. The angle of the major axis is quitefla-t to keep the major force component acting in a vertical direction.Obviously, the leg members 13 and 114 may assume other shapes such assquare, oval, triangular or of cross sectoins other than round, in whichcase the long axis of the elongated holes 31 will of necessity bevertically aligned.

The elongated hole 31 perm-its slight vertical adjustment -of theindividual legs to compensate for irregularities in the supportingsurface. (For example, if the article of furniture is moved to anon-planar supporting surface, only three of the legs will contact thesurface at any given time. With line adjustability of each leg availabledue to the elongated hole construction, it becomes possible to loosenthe non-contacting leg and lower it until it is in firm contact with theoor. The clamping bolt 28 or 29 depending on the position of the leg 14,may then be drawn up tight to maintain the leg 14 rigidly xed.

This type of adjustability is permitted through the -use of the uniqueclamping bar arrangement of the present invention since substantialfriction is developed between the internalwall of the tubular member 19and the thickened portion 27 of the clamping bar 22 when the clampingbolt is `drawn up tight. As seen in FIG. 4, the outer ycontour of thethickened portion 27 conforms to the curvature of the internal wall ofthe -leg 14 for good clamping action.

Although the present invention has been `described in connection Iwith asingle embodiment, it will become immediately obvious to those skilledin .the art that various departures may be made without `departing fromthe scope of the inventive concepts embodied herein. Therefore, anylimitations imposed are to be within the spirit and scope of theappended claims.

I claim:

1. An adjustable leg for use in supporting articles of furniture latpre-selected elevations comprising, an outer clamping sleeve assemblyincluding a plate member adapted to be attached to the article of`furniture to be supported, said outer clamping sleeve assembly furtherincluding an elongated hollow member attached to said plate member, atleast one opening through a wall of said hollow member, a clamping barsecured to one of said members and extending longitudinally within saidelongated hollow member and being slightly spaced from the internal'wall surface of said hollow member, said clamping .bar having at leastone threaded bore in register with said opening in the wall of saidhollow member, a hollow adjustable Ileg telescopically received in saidhollow member Iwith a wall portion thereof being telescopically receivedbetween said clamping bar and said hollow member, a series of axiallyspaced apertures `formed in a wall portion of said adjustable leg, saidadjustabile leg being longitudinally movable fwithin said holiow memberto bring one of said apertures into alignment with said opening in saidhollow member and said threaded bore in sai-d clamping bar, and means todraw said clamping bar to said tubular member thereby t clamp and retainsaid adjustable leg at a pre-selected and adjusted position.

2. The adjustable leg of claim 1 wherein each of said apertures in saidadjustable leg is elongated to permit slight adjustment with theclamping bar and hollow member.

3. The adjustable leg of claim 1 Iwherein each of said apertures in saidhollow adjustable leg is elongated and extends at `an angle to the axisof said ladjustable leg to permit rotary adjustment.

l4. An adjustable leg assembly for use in supporting articles offurniture at selected elevations comprising an outer clamping sleeveassembly including a hollow member joined to a mounting plate, laclamping bar joined to said clamping sleeve assembly and projectinglongitudinally into said hollow member and being held slightly spacedtherefrom, an opening in the wall of said member in register with athreaded bore formed in said clamping bar, an adjustable ylegtelescopically received within said hollow sleeve in slidable engagementwith the internal wall thereof, said adjustable leg having a wallportion slidably received between said clamping bar and the internalwall of said hollow sleeve, said clamping bar having an external contourconforming to the shape of the internal rwall portion of said adjustableleg :to provide good clamping action, a series of apertures formed insaid wall portion of said adjustable leg, said apertures being adaptedto be brought into radial alignment with said opening in said hollowmember .and means urging said clamping bar towards said hollow member toclamp said adjustable leg therebetween.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,050,395 l/ 1913Schleicher 248--298 1,435,414 11/1922 Morton 287-58 2,752,2118 6/l9564Shea 312--255 2,880,047 3/1959 Haag 248--188.8

FOREIGN PATENTS 1,272,587 8/1961 France.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

OHANCEL'LOR E. HARRIS, Examiner.

W. D. LOU'LAN, Assistant Examiner.

4. AN ADJUSTABLE LEG ASSEMBLY FOR USE IN SUPPORTING ARTICLES OFFURNITURE AT SELECTED ELEVATIONS COMPRISING AN OUTER CLAMPING SLEEVEASSEMBLY INCLUDING A HOLLOW MEMBER JOINED TO A MOUNTING PLATE, ACLAMPING BAR JOINED TO SAID CLAMPING SLEEVE ASSEMBLY AND PROJECTINGLONGITUDINALLY INTO SAID HOLLOW MEMBER AND BEING HELD SLIGHTLY SPACEDTHEREFROM, AN OPENING IN THE WALL OF SAID MEMBER IN REGISTER WITH ATHREADED BORE FORMED IN SAID CLAMPING BAR, AN ADJUSTABLE LEGTELESCOPICALLY RECEIVED WITHIN SAID HOLLOW SLEEVE IN SLIDABLE ENGAGEMENTWITH THE INTERNAL WALL THEREOF, SAID ADJUSTABLE LEG HAVING A WALLPORTION SLIDABLY RECEIVED BETWEEN SAID CLAMPING BAR AND THE INTERNALWALL OF SAID HOLLOW SLEEVE, SAID CLAMPING BAR HAVING AN EXTERNAL CONTOURCONFORMING TO THE SHAPE OF THE INTERNAL WALL PORTION OF SAID ADJUSTABLELEG TO PROVIDE GOOD CLAMPING ACTION, A SERIES OF APERTURES FORMED INSAID WALL PORTION OF SAID ADJUSTABLE LEG, SAID APERTURES BEING ADAPTEDTO BE BROUGHT INTO RADIAL ALIGNMENT WITH SAID OPENING IN SAID HOLLOWMEMBER AND MEANS URGING SAID CLAMPING BAR TOWARDS SAID HOLLOW MEMBER TOCLAMP SAID ADJUSTABLE LEG THEREBETWEEN.